Important news of the cryptoindustry
Investors are coming back to the cryptocurrency market
The rapid growth of the cryptocurrency market occurs while volumes are growing, so it is logical to assume that investors are coming back. It is still difficult to say whether there are institutional or private investors.
Kane Warwick, CEO of Blueshyft, Australian payment processor stressed that fiat money is returning to the cryptocurrency market. According to him, the volume of fiat deposits entering the crypto exchanges is almost the same as in May 2018.
“This is a new inflow of fiat to the crypt, retail buyers are returning to the market,” said Warwick. The inflow of fiat money is one of the best indicators reflecting the organic interest of market participants” and the desire of the latter to invest in cryptocurrency.
“Trading volumes are easy to manipulate. However, it is much more difficult to falsify data on the flow of money entering the ecosystem”.
This statement is quite convincing. Recently, we get enough evidence that the absolute majority of exchanges significantly overestimate trading volumes.
Peak trading volume at CME
The total trading volume of BTC, according to the CoinMarketCap, increased approximately by 2.5 times. Since April 1, 2019, BTC trading volume slightly exceeded $10 billion, but on April 3, this figure reached $24.8 billion. At the same time, a surge in activity of investors and traders was much higher at the Chicago Commodity Exchange (CME).
On April 1, the volume of trading in futures on BTC was 2162 contracts, and on April 4 this figure reached 22542 contracts. The growth by more than ten times was systematic on April, 2, 3 and 4. Considering that the size of the futures contract at CME is 5 BTC, 22,524 contracts correspond to 112,710 BTC or more than $560 million. The previous peak was recorded on February 19, then the trading volume of bitcoin futures was 18.3 thousand contracts. At that moment, the price of BTC was at the level of $11100, which is approximately $1015 billion.
Coordinator for Largest Group of Mt. Gox Creditors Leaves Post, Sells His Claim
Andy Pag, the founder and coordinator of Mt. Gox Legal (MGL) — the largest group of creditors of the now-defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox — has quit his post and decided to sell his claim. Mt. Gox Legal — a cooperative of over 1,000 creditors with claims reportedly totaling more than an estimated 125,000BTC — was formed to seek coordinated legal action to support Mt. Gox’s transition from bankruptcy proceedings to civil rehabilitation (CR). This transition, which formally took effect in June 2018, should ensure that creditors are reimbursed in crypto, rather than in fiat currency equivalent to the value of their BTC holdings at the time of the exchange’s collapse. In his letter of resignation to MGL members, Pag cited his belief that reimbursement is likely to take a further 18–24 months or longer.
Bitfinex has removed the minimum deposit limit
Bitfinex, Hong Kong Cryptocurrency Exchange, has removed the minimum capital requirement for its users. Previously, the entry threshold was $10 000, but this restriction was eliminated due to an increase in the number of orders from traders. This information appeared on Medium. Jean-Louis van der Velde, the general director of the exchange, states:
“We simply could not ignore the increasing level of requests for access to trade on Bitfinex from a wider cohort than our traditional customer base. For the last six months, we have been working hard to ready our platform for a new wave of customer accounts and are now in a position to open Bitfinex to a wider audience.”
Banking industry and cryptocurrencies
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japanese bank holding financial company, plans to introduce its digital currency MUFG Coin at the end of this year. MUFG is the largest financial company in Japan, and according to forecasts, it will become the first Japanese bank to issue virtual currency, a stable blockchain-based currency tied to the Japanese yen 1: 1.
About 1,500 employees have been testing this currency since 2017. In May 2018, MUFG announced its intention to test MUFG Coin with 100,000 account holders in 2019. But the newly appointed president of the company, Kanetsugu Mike, does not mention the exact release date.
